Marines mark holiday with return to U.S. soil

[thedrifter]

Marines mark holiday with return to U.S. soil


By Estes Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS



CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. ? Mark Beadles has the size of the Marine he once was and the motorcycle cop he is now. But that imposing presence gave way to tears yesterday when he saw his son come home safe.
Cpl. Terry Beadles came ashore Memorial Day after nine months on a deployment that included combat in Iraq. He leapt from a patrol vehicle to hug his father and mother, Tami, before heading off with other members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
"I had two worries ? one that he wouldn't come home and the other one is that he would change. He didn't. He's still the little goofy kid I sent off to the Marine Corps. Thank God," Mr. Beadles said.
Cpl. Beadles, 22, was one of 2,300 members of the unit who began arriving at Onslow Beach in small groups aboard landing craft from the USS Austin, USS Tortuga and USS Nassau.
Some arrived at the state port in Morehead City, about 25 miles to the northeast, where a crowd of well-wishers waved flags and cheered as the Austin pulled through Beaufort Inlet.
The unit sailed out in August for a standard six-month deployment that was extended to nine because of the war in Iraq. Now it is the first major contingent of Marines to return to the United States.
First to hit the beach were about two dozen Marines driving a small convoy of Humvees and trucks. The group was led off the landing craft by a small bulldozer flying a large American flag.
Several of the returning Marines were getting their first looks at sons and daughters born while they were away.
Christina Packard held her baby as she waited for her husband, Lance Cpl. William Packard, to come home from war. The Packards learned just before the unit departed that Mrs. Packard, 18, was pregnant. She moved to Westerville, Ohio, to stay with her parents while he was gone.
"It was hard, but I knew he was coming home and everything would be OK," she said as she and her family shrugged off the muggy rain.
Yesterday was her first wedding anniversary, and Mrs. Packard held her 2-month-old daughter, Makayla, in her arms like a present for the husband who had yet to see his baby.
His gift to her? "As long as he's coming home, that's the best anniversary present you could have," she said.
For those who made it ashore, even the damp sand of Onslow Beach was a welcome sight.
"It's good to see U.S. soil, really good," said Cpl. Travis Hoots of Roodhouse, Ill.
His wife, Jamie, met him on the beach carrying their 7-month-old son.
"I spent a lot of nights thinking about what this day would be like," Cpl. Hoots said as he looked at his baby. "I'm just sort of dumbfounded."
Keith Vaught, a dental technician 2nd class from Pearisburg, Va., was a bachelor when he went on his first deployment. Now he and his wife, Rhonda, have a 2?-year-old son, Zachary, and a 7-month-old daughter, Amari.
"While I'm out there, I try not to think about it ? stay focused on the job," he said, but seeing his daughter for the first time is "like an explosion inside."
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit left North Carolina aboard three ships in August, expecting a routine six-month patrol in the Mediterranean Sea. They were told in February that their deployment had been extended, then were sent to Kuwait to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. The unit was in battle less than 24 hours after it arrived.
The unit also saw duty in Kosovo, Kenya and northeast Africa. In all, about 15,000 ground troops from Camp Lejeune were sent to Iraq and Kuwait.
Communities all around Camp Lejeune prepared for the unit's arrival. In some towns, small American flags were planted on highway medians. Outside the base's main gate, bedsheets with painted welcome messages lined a fence at a military housing complex.
Yellow ribbons were everywhere ? wrapped around trees and traffic signs, on cars and houses.
The joy of the return was tempered when a sailor fell off one of the three returning ships, the USS Nassau, some 900 miles from the Virginia coast and another went missing aboard the same ship.


? 2003 News World Communications, Inc.



Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

May 27, 2003

Tears, cheers greet returning 24th MEU

By Estes Thompson
Associated Press

Sgt. Stas Kosnik, a member of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, left, hugs his mother Julie Kosnik, right, Monday, May 26, 2003, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., after returning from a nine-month deployment that included combat in Iraq.
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. ? Mark Beadles has the size of the Marine he once was and the motorcycle cop he is now. But that imposing presence gave way to tears Monday when he saw his son come home safe.

Cpl. Terry Beadles came ashore Memorial Day after nine months on a deployment that included combat in Iraq. He leaped from a patrol vehicle to hug his father and mother, Tami, before heading off with other members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

?I had two worries ? one that he wouldn?t come home and the other one is that he would change. He didn?t. He?s still the little goofy kid I sent off to the Marine Corps. Thank God,? Mark Beadles said.

Terry Beadles, 22, was one of 2,300 members of the unit who began arriving at Onslow Beach in small groups aboard landing craft from the amphibious transport dock Austin, dock landing ship Tortuga and amphibious assault ship Nassau. Some arrived at the state port in Morehead City, about 25 miles to the northeast, where a crowd of well-wishers waved flags and cheered as the Austin pulled through Beaufort Inlet.

The unit sailed out last August for a standard six-month deployment that was extended to nine because of the war in Iraq. Now it is the first major contingent of Marines to return to the United States.

A number of the returning Marines were getting their first look at sons and daughters born while they were away.

Christina Packard held her baby as she waited for her husband, Lance Cpl. William Packard, to come home from war. The Packards learned just before the unit departed that Christina, 18, was pregnant. She moved to Westerville, Ohio, to stay with her parents while he was gone.

?It was hard, but I knew he was coming home and everything would be OK,? she said as she and her family shrugged off the muggy rain.

Monday was her first wedding anniversary, and Packard held her 2-month-old daughter, Makayla, in her arms like a present for the husband who had yet to see his baby.

His gift to her? ?As long as he?s coming home, that?s the best anniversary present you could have,? she said.

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit expected a routine six-month patrol in the Mediterranean Sea, but was told in February that its deployment had been extended, then was sent to Kuwait to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. The unit was in battle less than 24 hours after it arrived.

Col. Richard Mills, the unit commander, said his troops weren?t in the main battle for Baghdad, but did come under fire as they handled security on a road to the south.

The unit also saw duty in Kosovo, Kenya and northeast Africa. In all, about 15,000 ground troops from Camp Lejeune were sent to Iraq and Kuwait.

Communities all around Camp Lejeune prepared for the unit?s arrival. In some towns, small American flags were stuck into the ground on highway medians. Outside the base?s main gate, bed sheets with welcome messages painted on them lined a fence at a military housing complex.

Yellow ribbons were everywhere; wrapped around trees and traffic signs, on cars and houses.

The joy of the return was tempered when a sailor fell off one of the three returning ships, the Nassau, some 900 miles from the Virginia coast and another went missing aboard the same ship.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.


Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Article ran : 05/27/2003
Cheers arise from Marine families as helicopters appear as small dots
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The birth of Marine Corps Cpl. John "Bubba" Anglon's daughter Emily was a small-town family project in Albany, Ga., where he was raised. Monday he still hadn't seen the result - but the New River Air Station Marine was a whole lot closer.

Anglon, 21, a CH-53E mechanic, was one of roughly 300 aviators with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 who returned home with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Monday afternoon. He was squeezed upon his return by wife Jessica, the hometown sweetheart he met at the local Dairy Queen.

"It's a young kid's VFW," said Anglon's father Bill Hancock, a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam.

Later Jessica and Anglon became an item and the rest was history, until four months ago when their daughter Emily was born while he was away on what was supposed to be a six-month float with the 24th MEU.

Emily didn't make the trip to New River. She stayed behind with relatives in Georgia.

But she was on daddy's mind Monday.

"I can't wait to see Emily and I missed my family the most," Anglon said. "I'm going back home to Georgia right away."

But first things first. Monday Anglon wanted to hug his wife, visit family then get a fresh steak and cold beer.

Anglon was among the 2,300 Marines who returned throughout Memorial Day after nine months of deployment and an assignment in the war with Iraq. They faced Iraqi sniper fire and occasional attacks from paramilitary forces, but three weeks ago they left Kuwait for the most direct route home.

Anglon's family made the 10 ??ur drive from Albany to New River and they carried three signs that said "Meet Emily here. I love my dad," "Welcome Home" and "Bubba."

"I've called him Bubba since he was a little baby," his mother Kay Hancock said.

Cheers rose from the crowd of family at New River Monday when a group of small dots suddenly appeared over the trees in the distance. Soon, the sounds of helicopters could be heard and the faint rumble of engines turned into a roar.

The specks grew into clumps as the squadron of helicopters split into five different sections as they approached the airfield.

The aircraft swooped toward the ground and began the return toward the crowd, hovering just above the runway as loved ones bounced on their toes.

One by one, the helicopters taxied single file toward a nearby hangar and landed together with a series of precision turns. Crew members waved from behind windows as ground crews scurried to take their places until rotors stopped turning and engines stopped spinning.

Marines and sailors scrambled from the aircraft to the front of the tarmac in a final formation. The squadron marched toward the stands, spectators straining at the ropes until they were released by their commander.

Jessica wasn't tall enough to see over the crowd. It was Anglon who found her first, coming through the throng from her left side. He touched her and she screamed, then broke into convulsions of excitement and joy.

Anglon swept her off her feet.


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.

Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Article ran : 05/27/2003
Honey, we're home
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Mark Beadles and his wife Tami stood at Onslow Beach Monday morning and watched as Marine Corps landing craft chugged toward the shore from a massive ship. It had been a long time since the couple, from Phoenix, had seen their son Terry, a corporal and javelin antitank gunner with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.

For the last nine months, Terry Beadles and the rest of the 2,300 Marines and sailors with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been deployed, mainly in support of the war on terrorism. Only a few weeks ago, they were in combat with Iraqi troops.

"I'll be glad when he steps back on U.S. soil and when he comes home on leave in June," said Mark Beadles, a former Marine himself who is now a police officer.

"There aren't words to describe how proud we are," he said evenly, a look of pride on his face as he gazed into the distance. "Combat changes a person, and I'm waiting to see him. If he gets off the ship and starts talking like Hank Hill (from the TV show "King of the Hill") we'll know he's OK."

Tami said she is also worried about how the war has changed her son.

"I can only imagine what he's seen and done," she said. "I want him to be able to put it away. Only recently he's been able to sleep again."

The MEU arrived in short bursts Monday morning at Onslow Beach to tearful and joyous reunions with family members at their unit headquarters. The troops were deposited into the landing crafts from the USS Austin, USS Tortuga and USS Nassau, their homes since August. The ships then journeyed to the North Carolina State Port in Morehead City to unload equipment and more troops.

Security was tight at the port Monday and media access was not allowed. The lockdown will likely continue today when the Nassau is scheduled to send more equipment ashore near Radio Island, said MEU commander Col. Richard Mills.

The Beadles family, like many others, waited on the shore. Their oldest son Matthew served in the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999 and youngest son Nicholas, 18, plans to join this summer.

"My biggest concern was that (Terry) wasn't going to come home, but I kept trying to be positive in the telephone calls," Tami Beadles said, fighting back tears.

She belongs to a Marine Mom's Internet group that primarily caters to those parents whose sons and daughters are in basic training. She always felt like an old hand telling others how it is, but the war was a new experience for all of them.

"Nobody had experienced that," she said.

Her son, like his MEU counterparts, gained some new experiences on this deployment.

Since the MEU left in August on what was supposed to be a routine six-month deployment, the Marines and sailors spent a month in the snowy mountains on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. They then went ashore in the Djibouti desert and the Kenyan jungle on antiterrorist missions for about 2 1/2 months.

In March, they went into Iraq as a supporting force for Task Force Tarawa, where they were in charge of security along Route 7 near An Nasiriyah and Al Kut, Mills said.

"There were two Iraqi divisions that really didn't want to fight," Mills said. "There was some sniper fire and some limited engagement with paramilitary forces."

But, Mills said, much of the devastation in Iraq was not related to the war, but was the result of a regime that was repressive to its people.

"I was shocked that a country with that much money had people living so poorly in mud huts without roads and schools," he said.

But all things considered, he felt the deployment was a success.

"It was event filled and exciting," Mills said. "It's great to bring everybody in the MEU home."

The Beadles family felt the same way. As they saw son Terry they waved him over, according to the Associated Press. He greeted his parents with a smile and hugs. He told them he loved them before returning to his unit.

He hadn't changed a bit, his dad told the Associated Press.

"I had two worries - one that he wouldn't come home and the other one is that he would change. He didn't. He's still the little goofy kid I sent off to the Marine Corps. Thank God," Mark Beadles said.


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.

Sempers,

Roger